I think you believe this is all just sour grapes; the crocodile tears of the losing locker room with the scoreboard going against us at the buzzer.

I can only tell you that you’re wrong. This is not about losing an election.This isn’t about not winning a contest. This is about two very different ways of seeing the world.

Hillary supporters believe in a diverse America; one where religion or skin color or sexual orientation or place of birth aren’t liabilities or deficiencies or moral defects. Her campaign was one of inclusion and connection and interdependency. It was about building bridges and breaking ceilings. It was about going high.

Trump supporters believe in a very selective America; one that is largely white and straight and Christian, and the voting verified this. Donald Trump has never made any assertions otherwise. He ran a campaign of fear and exclusion and isolation—and that’s the vision of the world those who voted for him have endorsed.

They have aligned with the wall-builder and the professed p*ssy-grabber, and they have co-signed his body of work, regardless of the reasons they give for their vote:

Every horrible thing Donald Trump ever said about women or Muslims or people of color has now been validated.

Every profanity-laced press conference and every call to bully protestors and every ignorant diatribe has been endorsed.

Every piece of anti-LGBTQ legislation Mike Pence has championed has been signed-off on.

Half of our country has declared these things acceptable, nobleAmerican. This is the disconnect and the source of our grief today. It isn’t a political defeat that we’re lamenting, it’s a defeat for Humanity.

We’re not angry that our candidate lost. We’re angry because our candidate’s losing means this country will be less safe, less kind, and less available to a huge segment of its population, and that’s just the truth. Those who have always felt vulnerable are now left more so. Those whose voices have been silenced will be further quieted. Those who always felt marginalized will be pushed further to the periphery. Those who feared they were seen as inferior now have confirmation in actual percentages. Those things have essentially been campaign promises of Donald Trump, and so many of our fellow citizens have said this is what they want too. This has never been about politics.

This is not about one candidate over the other.

It’s not about one’s ideas over another’s.

It is not blue vs. red.

It’s not her emails vs. his bad language.

It’s not her dishonesty vs. his indecency.

It’s about overt racism and hostility toward minorities.

It’s about religion being weaponized.

It’s about crassness and vulgarity and disregard for women.

It’s about a barricaded, militarized, bully nation.

It’s about an unapologetic, open-faced ugliness.

And it is not only that these things have been ratified by our nation that grieve us; all this hatred, fear, racism, bigotry, and intolerance—it’s knowing that these things have been amen-ed by our neighbors, our

families, our friends, those we work with and worship alongside. That is the most horrific thing of all. We now know how close this is.

It feels like living in enemy territory being here now, and there’s no way around that. We wake up today in a home we no longer recognize. We are grieving the loss of a place we used to love but no longer do. This may be America today but it is not the America we believe in or recognize or want.

This is not about a difference of political opinion, as that’s far too small to mourn over. It’s about a fundamental difference in how we view the worth of all people—not just those who look or talk or think or vote the way we do.

Grief always laments what might have been, the future we were robbed of, the tomorrow that we won’t get to see, and that is what we walk through today. As a nation we had an opportunity to affirm the beauty of our diversity this day, to choose ideas over sound bytes, to let everyone know they had a place at the table, to be the beacon of goodness and decency we imagine that we are—and we said no.

The Scriptures say that weeping endures for a night but joy comes in the morning. We can’t see that dawn coming any time soon.

And this is why we grieve.

~http://johnpavlovitz.com/

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Yes, I’m going to vote for Hillary. No I don’t particularly like her or the DNC. I watched what they did during the 2008 election. So what the email said they did to Bernie Sanders was no surprise. I know what we’re getting. I know her flaws and her strengths. I’m voting for her because we can’t afford to have Trump win. He’s doing a good job of destroying the Republican Party. I won’t be part of letting him into the White House to do the same to our country.

Yes, I intended to vote 3rd party, but I can’t. If she was far enough ahead, I would vote 3rd party. She’s not. I don’t trust the polls. So I’m going to take a deep breath and vote for her.

This election has very much become about the rape culture in this country. It’s overshadowed ISIS, the economy, and Obamacare. It’s overshadowed racism, although white supremacist groups and hate crimes are on the rise because of his verbiage. He’s made those things acceptable through the things he’s said to his supporters.

But more than anything, it’s about a man that believes he can kiss and grope women without even asking for their consent. He thinks nothing of using language that demeans and belittles us. We’re no more human to him than mannequins.

I’m angry. I’m pissed off at the Republic Party for putting us in this position. I’m pissed off because they didn’t recognize that he wasn’t a joke, that there were enough people supporting him that he could become the nominee. I’m disgusted and angry with everyone that continues to support him in spite of his words and his actions. How Christians can support him is beyond me. How women can support him baffles me.

I’ve been pinned against the wall of an elevator. I’ve been in the position of being afraid to say ‘no.’ I’ve been groped by someone who didn’t listen when I said ‘no.’ And I’ve been raped. I have two women close to me who have also survived being assaulted. It’s more prevalent than you think.

I’m hoping that the discussion about the rape culture will continue after the election. It needs to stop. We women can’t stop it by ourselves. We need good, decent, honorable men to step up and help us. Read the article I posted by DeAndre Levy. He says it better than I can.

I guess that’s the end of this rant. I’ll be glad when this election is over.

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Okay, here’s a minor rant. First off, for those of you, especially men, who don’t realize this, sexual assault and the “rape culture” in this country ARE issues for women every day and especially in an election year. They SHOULD be issues for any man – at least any man that isn’t a misogynistic pig – that has a mother, a wife, daughter and female friends. For the women in your life, sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexual abuse are all things that women in this country are forced to deal with. We have to keep our safety in mind every time we leave the house. It is a huge issue when the man being accused is running for president.

I was once pinned against the wall of an elevator by a wealthy owner/pilot of an air race team. He obviously had a hard on, was trying to hump me, and forcibly kissed me, shoving his tongue into my mouth. I was only able to get away from him because the elevator doors opened, allowing me to get off that elevator. Did I report him? No. There was no one but the two of us on that elevator and I wasn’t thinking clearly enough to remember there was the possibility of cameras in the elevator. I believed it would be he said, she said, and I didn’t know that anyone would believe ME. So I said nothing and just did my damnedest to avoid being alone with him from then on.

So I’ve been there and I want these women to have their voices heard. This IS an issue and I DON’T want a serial sexual predator in the White House.

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She dreaded going home. In her house, a person never knew what they would find. Ann had spent many days standing outside, trying to intuit the mood of the adults within. And today she anticipated trouble. She glanced down at her new dress, fingered the tear. Sighing, she continued walking toward home and the inevitable.

Yesterday had been such a lovely day. Samantha, Ann’s mother, had finished the new dress. She held it up for Ann to admire.

“Well, Honey, what do you think? Do you like it?” Five year old Ann nodded, and reached out to touch the soft calico fabric.

“Can I try it on?”

“Of course you can,” her mother said with a smile. “And tomorrow you can wear it to school.”

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Here’s the last bit of, well, not really bad news. More like a caution. Bed bugs are notoriously hard to kill. Don’t be surprised if weeks after you’ve treated your home, during which you’ve seen no sign of the intruders, you suddenly wake up one morning with a bite or two.

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“Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.” Many of us have heard this little ditty. It’s usually offered and received with a bit of amusement. However, for anyone experiencing a bed bug infestation, it’s anything but funny.